SPV / Steamhammer will release a NWoBHM cult album on December 1st (Germany November 28th, USA late January 2015).

Battleaxe's "Power From The Universe" was digitally re-mastered and will come in a high class digipak including 4 bonus tracks and a new extended booklet with liner notes, a history special, and track-by-track commentary. The track listing is as follows:

1. Chopper Attack2. Metal Rock3. License To Rock4. Fortune Lady5. Shout It Out6. Over The Top7. Power From The Universe8. Make It In AmericaBonus Tracks:9. Killer Woman10. Radio Thunder11. My Love`s On Fire12. Love Sick Man More...

The final bands have now been announced for this year's edition of the Bloodstock Festival, which takes place from August 7th - 10th (get ticket info and other details over here). The organizers of the festival comment:

"The ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ finals have rocked to a conclusion and some more lucky young bands are joining the New Blood stage at Catton Park next month, plus there's a few last additions for the Sophie and Jagermeister stages.

"Balls Deep bring their trad groove metal to the Sophie Lancaster stage. The Brit outfit have been busy honing their ‘Pro-Pain cut with Black Sabbath’ sound, coming on like the bastard sons of Pantera and classic heavy metal.

"Over on the Jagermeister stage, female-fronted power metallers Aceldama will be impressing allcomers with their high octane performance and audience interaction, while New Blood stage stoner rocker’s Resin will be offering an additional acoustic spin on their new material.

"Meanwhile, the New Blood stage welcomes the last clutch of winners from the last batch of M2TM roadshow finals. Goat Leaf bring their doom groove from the Sheffield heats, Oakhaart’s tech death noise hails from Gloucestershire, impressing judges at the Bristol event, Sinpathetic grace us with their death metal from the Preston night, Eradikator’s thrash metal won out in Birmingham, and lastly but not least, Cacodaemonic's unholy, neo-classical infused death metal represents Nottingham."

British metal outfit Battleaxe has issued the following update about bringing on a new drummer for upcoming live shows:

"Battleaxe would like to introduce our new drummer Rick Squires to all our great friends and loyal fans around the world.

"The guys say they are delighted to be working with such an experienced and professional drummer as Rick, and believe his presence and quality drumming has brought a new uplifting spirit of excitement into the band.

"Over the last few weeks the guys have been rehearsing really hard at a top Glasgow Studio in preparation for this years Bloodstock Metal Festival in August, as well as for a headlining festival in Barcelona in November which will be advertised at a later date once all the details have been finalized.

"A special one off Pre-Bloodstock warm up gig has been arranged at the well known Three Tuns pub in Gateshead on Thursday evening 7 PM, the 17th of July 2014. It's free to get in as usual, the beers cheap, lovely and cold, and if required free ear plugs will be provided while the band blasts out it's true British heavy metal sound playing some of their world class and well received older metal songs recently added for the Bloodstock set list, Hands Off, Thunder Angel, not to mention Burn this Town and Ready to Deliver and many tacks from the new album 'Heavy Metal Sanctuary.'

"We're really are exited and looking forward to seeing as many friends and fans of the band there as possible for your great loyal support and to welcome in on his first live gig with the band new drummer Rick Squires from Glasgow." More...

NWoBHM act Battleaxe posted a preview clip of the upcoming release "Heavy Metal Sanctuary." The album is out via SPV/Steamhammer on March 4th in North America, on February 21st in Germany and February 24th in Europe as a digipak version and download.

The band commented on the release: "We can hardly believe that the task is finally over, the album that we never thought that we would complete is finally finished! It has been a long hard road against almost impossible odds and we hope that everyone out there are as pleased with the result as we are. If it were not for the devotion of all our fans old and new we probably wouldn't be here today. It is you guys who resurrected this band! The songs are total Battleaxe and the production is better than we could have hoped for with a limited budget.

"Thanks to Fred Purser and the guys in the band we have got this thing sounding massive! Many thanks to Olly and SPV for making the release of this album possible and for making the 21st century version of BATTLEAXE become a reality!"

The band recently released the new video clip for the title track, which can be seen over here. The track list for the album is:

1. Heavy Metal Sanctuary2. Shock and Awe3. Hail to the King4. Rebel With a Cause5. Give it More6. Too Hot For Hell7. Revolution8. A Prelude to Battle9. The Legions Unite10. Spirits of the Fallen11. Devil Calls12. Kingdom Come13. Romeo More...

NWoBHM act Battleaxe, who reunited in 2010, has released a new music video for the title track of the upcoming return album "Heavy Metal Sanctuary." The album is out worldwide in February 2014 (exact date not yet announced) via SPV/Steamhammer Records.

Battleaxe was formed in 1979 in Sunderland, UK and released two albums "Burn This Town" (1983), which will be reissued in January and "Power From the Universe" (1984). The last effort was an EP released in 2005 called "Nightmare Zone."

Steamhammer/SPV will release a NWoBHM cult album this coming January 21st, 2014 in North America.

Battleaxe's "Burn This Town" will come in a digipak including bonus tracks and a new extended booklet with liner notes, track-by-track commentary, and completely new artwork. The track listing is as follows:

Bonus Tracks BBC Radio 1 Session 198311. Ready To Deliver 03:1812. Shout It Out 04:1913. Mean Machine 04:2914. Running Out Of Time 03:48

The current line-up consists of the original members Dave King (vocals) and Brian Smith (bass) as well as Mick Percy (guitar) and Paul Atkinson (drums). The new album "Heavy Metal Sanctuary," that was mastered by Fred Purser (ex-Tygers Of Pan Tang), will be released in February 2014. More...

SPV/Steamhammer has signed a worldwide deal with NWoBHM cult act Battleax. The deal is not only for a new studio album called "Heavy Metal Sanctuary," which is due in early 2014, it also includes the deluxe re-releases of "Burn This Town" (out in October 2013) and "Power From The Universe" (out late summer 2014) with new covers, extended booklets, and lots of bonus material.

The current line-up consists of the original members Dave King (vocals) and Brian Smith (bass) as well as Mick Percy (guitar) and Paul Atkinson (drums). Dave King and Brian Smith say about the signing:

"We think speaking for the whole band that we are all elated to be joining the SPV family. A label with great worldwide distribution and also featuring some of our favourite bands. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to re-release our old classic albums again as well as introduce our fans to our new more powerful sound. After a long and hard struggle we have finally managed to complete our new album Heavy Metal Sanctuary which we know will delight our fans worldwide.

"We do not think it will disappoint in either the songs or the production, and we feel that although it sounds modern and 21st century, it is still classic Battleaxe! We thank all our loyal fans all over the world who encouraged us to reform (indeed some even demanded it), even though some of you were not even born when the original albums were first released. Now because of this new deal, we will be able to see many of you in 2014 on the European festival scene and possibly around the world. Finally of course many many thanks to Olly Hahn and all the staff at SPV for making this dream come true! "

SPV/Steamhammer A&R Olly Hahn ads: "Sometimes you have to do something....and I did. As a child of the NWoBHM due to the lack of informations you had to buy by the cover. In some cases the cover were good but the music average, in other cases the cover were not really good but the music was killer. This happened to me when I bought "Burn This Town". The whole album, as well as the second one "Power From The Universe", are classics for me and I know for many metal fans too. And I heard the new songs which are really strong and will surprise a lot of people. Yes, the band is ready to deliver...so are we!"

British NWOBHM band BATTLEAXE has re-formed. The band got back together in response to numerous enquiries and requests for the band to perform throughout 2010. Having performed a handful of gigs, namely, Hard Rock Hell (Wales) and Headbangers Open Air (Hamburg), the band has agreed that the time is now right for a relaunch.

BATTLEAXE is currently in the process of writing/recording new material for the new album "The Legions Unite." The band expects to finish recording the album in January 2011 for a February release.

Battleaxe was formed in 1981 and by 1983 the band was signed to Roadrunner/Music for Nations and released "Burn this Town," which became a cult album. In 1983, Battleaxe also recorded a session for the UK's top radio station RADIO 1. Radio One's top rock producer, Tony Wilson produced a session that was to be promoted heavily by the Rock Show's late Tommy Vance. Battleaxe's second album, "Power from the Universe," was recorded in December 1983. Despite some lineup changes, the band continued playing live shows into the mid 1990's.